MOLIY, Silent Addy, Skillibeng & Shenseea – Shake It to the Max (Fly)

An international hit that’s been assembling an ever more impressive line-up…

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Al Varela: Usually a good sign when a song makes you want to learn how to shake your ass so you can jam along to it properly. Absolutely love the dank atmosphere of the song coupled with its tight rhythms and subtle bass bounce. The cheap gang vocals paired with MOILY’s slick voice, plus the stellar verses from everyone involved having the time of their lives, it all transports you right to the sweaty dance floor in all its glory. 
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Ian Mathers: This is one of those cases where the cool, reined-in restraint of the production just makes the whole thing more feel more powerful. All three vocalists clearly know what they’re doing with it, too, although MOLIY’s hooks are strong enough (and her “you looking for love and I’m looking for jollof” from the original is still funny enough) that she outshines the guests.
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Alfred Soto: Intruding on a three-way conversation in which to interrupt it would constitute a crime answerable before The Hague.
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Nortey Dowuona: MOLIY, I can’t! There is no bass in these headphones! turns it up in sound preferences Okay, that’s better.
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Katherine St. Asaph: Shake it to the 70% mark, maybe.
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Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: I am, at most, shaken to the mid by this — but that being said, I admire a beat this plodding and insistent. It serves as fitting substrate for a set of lazy boasts from our three vocalists, who say nothing much of interest but do so stylishly. All this sounds like weak praise, and I suppose it is; but there is something honorable about making the kind of sturdy, workable midrange summer jam that dozens of pandiasporic MCs are likely recording freestyles over as we review this.
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Will Adams: A dusky groove, a steely hook and fun guest verses, particularly from Shenseea, is more than enough to get me to shake it. To the max, though?
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Tim de Reuse: Moliy requests an escalation to thee max: not “shake it to /ðə/ max” (nonspecific, ordinary), but “shake it to /’ðiː/ max” (specific — a particular, unique max, an objective maximum). Feathery sirens and ominous minor-keyed beeping keep the proceedings on edge, infecting lines like “Make you cum first, coulda never take a loss” with an almost ritualistic seriousness. I am compelled to shake it by otherworldly forces beyond my ken.
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